


Growin' up as a Horde kid (its not fun)

by junebugtwin



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Angst, Bad Parenting, Bow and Glimmer get captured, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Child Abuse, Child Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Found Family, Gen, Horde Adora (She-Ra), Hurt/Comfort, I make up shit about the Horde because I Want To and you can't stop me, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Its not fun for anyone involved, Pre-Canon, if you can even call it that, the Horde wins, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:08:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22344601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junebugtwin/pseuds/junebugtwin
Summary: Adora doesn’t really understand why the new recruits keep on crying- she felt bad at first, because crying was such an awful feeling, and it always resulted in some sort of punishment or talking to if you accidentally did it in public. But after a while- it felt sorta mean, but really, she was just getting annoyed.They were all so…loud. It was like, as silly as the thought was, that they had never been told not to cry in their entire lives. Catra had said that they probably hadn’t, that Rebellion instructors probably loved it when they cried, and gave them a bunch of ration bars and stuff, as a reward. It was dumb and far-fetched, and Catra was obviously just grumpy cus’ her ears hurt the worst because of it. But she was always tempted to believe her, just a little bit, whenever she had to interact with one of them.---An alternate universe where the Horde almost wins when Adora and Catra are kids, storming Brightmoon and stealing away as many prisoners and soon-to-be soldiers as they can. Glimmer and Bow get swept up in it, and are forced to learn to survive in an environment more deadly than then could imagine. Adora and Catra are just confused- who are these kids and why do they suck so much?
Comments: 7
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

Adora doesn’t really understand why the new recruits keep on crying- she felt bad at first, because crying was such an awful feeling, and it always resulted in some sort of punishment or talking to if you accidentally did it in public. But after a while- it felt sorta mean, but really, she was just getting annoyed.

They were all so…loud. It was like, as silly as the thought was, that they had _never_ been told not to cry in their _entire_ lives. Catra had said that they probably hadn’t, that Rebellion instructors probably loved it when they cried, and gave them a bunch of ration bars and stuff, as a reward. It was dumb and far-fetched, and Catra was obviously just grumpy cus’ her ears hurt the worst because of it. But she was always tempted to believe her, just a little bit, whenever she had to interact with one of them.

Because they were sobbing all the time! Some girl didn’t get any rations for two days cus’ they were running out of food again, (and apparently her training scores were really bad) and she would not stop whining about it! Constantly trying to get other privates to give her half of their share, without even offering anything in return! Adora tried to make herself less mad- because it wasn’t her fault really, going a few days with no food really did suck! But- the way she acted… it made her want to prickle her arm hair up in annoyance. She acted like she was owed food or something! They _all_ did! Like anyone who was older than them was supposed to take _care_ of them. Which didn’t make any sense obviously, because the older you were, usually the more higher ranked- Force Captains and Generals and Sergeants had even less time to spend watching over some _kid_ who couldn’t even steal herself her own ration bars.

The girl asked _Kyle._ You didn’t ask Kyle for extra food! That private barely ate anything, he was skinnier than a rusty rat cut straight in half- not to mention, Catra had sneered when she shared her thoughts, that if you needed something desperately enough to ask _Kyle_ then you should probably just take it from him. Adora punched Catra for her blunt rudeness- but of course she privately agreed. She didn’t like that Kyle had such a hard time, but that was the way it was- none of these privates seemed to understand!

At least Kyle didn’t burst into loud dramatic tears when a trainer gave his head a light smack. That had been, uh, _very_ weird. She remembered Catra had tried to unsuccessfully turn her laugh into a cough, and Adora couldn’t help but stare. Ridiculous. Trainer Geon didn’t even hit that hard anyway. He was nice! He showed them all how to mix grave oil with spit and mud to make paint, and he even let them do some pictures on a unused wall when they were done practicing throwing knives! The rookies in his class didn’t even grasp how good they got it.

Luckily, Adora had mostly avoided having to partner up with one of them. Partly because the instructors tried to make parings even in strength and stuff, and Adora was above their ration count, so to speak. It was also probably cus’ ShadowWeaver really hated all the new recruits, and called them all wastes of resources and stuff like that (she called Catra that too, but she was- not-she wasn’t- she was slightly misinformed about that) and probably told all her trainers not to put Adora into too many groups with them.

The rain had to run dry eventually though, and Adora soon found herself face to face with her new obstacle partner. Obstacle training was not Adora’s strong suit- she was okay at it, mostly cus she had good muscles for pulling herself up and stuff- but the wasn’t anything like as good as she normally was at stuff like battle strategy and hand to hand. She wasn’t like Catra either- who could probably scale a building with a Princess tied to her back and her eyes closed.

Usually she was partnered up with Catra, or sometimes Lonnie or Finch. She tried not to take the baby faced rookie in front of her as an insult to her skills.

The girl was not one she had seen too often- the new recruits bunk rooms were on opposite sides of The Sludge chasm, and the main hallway connecting them had recently collapsed, so crossing it was sort of ‘an event’. That and the private seemed relatively new.

She was…well she was very round. Honestly Adora didn’t know people could still have their baby fat at eight, but, that must have been what it would look like on an older body. It wasn’t ugly or anything, it was sorta cute actually, like a plump momma rat or a fluffy crow chick. She had this very pretty short brown hair, which had a very oddly pronounced darker side. Her skin was a fun orange-ish dawn color, or maybe a little more yellow- which was interesting, because though most Horde soldiers all looked really different she had never seen skin like that before. Her eyes were actually purple! She thought they might be like, blue or grey and she just was seeing them weird or something, but no! Purple! Like a fancy sorcerer. For a moment Adora had forgotten to be annoyed at being paired up, with what was basically probably going to be a worse Kyle.

“Hey, didja’eat” Adora greeted with a casual smile, trying to at least start things off as if she were talking to any other private. Sometimes all things needed were a good beginning, maybe this girl and her would get along! Adora did a sloppy salute, trying to set the bar low for the other girl to mess hers up a little.

There was a moment of awkward silence, the other private scrunching her face up in confusion. Adora tensed, hands lowering as the girl didn’t return the movement.

“Did I- did I eat? Uh, yeah I did? Thank you? For asking…?” The girl responded, looking utterly bewildered. Adora could identify- why did the new recruit actually respond as if Adora was asking, like, a real _question_? She was just saying hello! Adora nodded delicately, unsure of what to do. The other girl cleared her throat after a pause.

“…Um. Well, my names G-Glow, uh, nice to meet you!” Adora appreciated the forced kindness in Glow’s tone- at least they were both suffering. Glow extended her hand, as if to take something Adora was giving her. Frustrated, and mildly baffled, Adora cocked her head to the side, brows furrowed at the gesture.

“Names Adora. It is also…nice, to, uh, meet you…do you need my hand for something?” She asked genuinely concerned. Glow blinked at her, looking like she was the one being particularly dense.

“No, well, yes- you’re supposed to shake my hand?” _Why?_ Why was she supposed to rattle Glows hand? What did that accomplish??

Slightly frightened of the consequences of this bizarre request Adora stretched both her arms out, griping Glows hand at the wrist. Wow her skin was soft! She honestly felt like she had no scars on her right arm whatsoever- Adora knew some people would kill for whatever mud or lard or whatever the girl had used to make her skin feel like that.

“Am I supposed to shake you really hard or really soft?” Glow made a weird face, and Adora laughed a little nervously. What did she want from her! She still had no idea why she was doing this! Did Glow have bones that needed to be _vibrated_ out of their sockets every once and awhile? Did she have an itch? Were they forming some sort of _blood pact_ or something?!


	2. Chapter 2

Glimmer doesn’t think she could possibly hate this place any more than she does right now, curled up in her bunk- if a slab of metal with a pillow on top can be called that- the bruise on her cheek stinging, listening to the miserable cries of the forty something children in the room around her. Because she does. Hate it here.

She hates that her kingdom got violently invaded, and she hates that the royal palace _burned_ , and she hates thinking about the blood and the ashes and the ceilings falling all around her. It took her by surprise, the way the backbone of her entire life could fall so suddenly away from her- that she could be instantly lost, snatched from her home and her people and her _mom_ -

Glimmer violently brushes away tears with the back of her wrist, throat aching with the pain on loss. This isn’t how it’s supposed to happen. The Horde wasn’t _supposed_ to win- and more importantly, the Rebellion wasn’t supposed to _lose_.

It wasn’t _fair_. It _wasn’t_ fair! Nothing about this was remotely okay! She was in the Horde- if they found out who she really was- they’d-

Glimmer shrinks in on herself, hot tears finally escaping lilly eyes, her lungs contorting with fear. She didn’t want to die! She didn’t want to be killed, not by the monsters that murdered her Dad, not by anyone! She was just a kid! She wasn’t supposed to… Glimmer hesitantly touched the swelling mark on her face, wincing as it flared up at the light contact. But adults weren’t supposed to hit kids either. Oh curse the Old Ones she didn’t- somehow she hadn’t expected them to actually _punch_ them.

But they had. Easily, and with not a trace of remorse. All Glimmer had done was ask a question, apparently she wasn’t supposed to ‘speak out of turn’. Glimmers stomach clenched. _Whatever that meant_. Probably that they weren’t supposed to speak at all- probably they were just supposed to shut up and do as they were told, like good little Horde soldiers- and forget about everything they were leaving behind.

Well she wouldn’t. She wasn’t going to forget about Bow’s incredible smile or her mom’s glistening wings or Brightmoon and its sunny evenings and lush forests. She wasn’t going to turn into one of _them_ \- one of those brainwashed brats that ran around not even batting an eye at the madness surrounding them.

How could they forget about their old kingdoms so fast? What about their families? Did they even _care_ that the war they were going to fight was evil?

Glimmer pinched her eyes shut, brows scrunching in anger. They were so _stupid_. They all acted like this place was fine, and that the people like Glimmer were the ones out of touch- When poor Cloudiana was starved for literal _days_ , they pretended like they couldn’t believe her gal to ask more experienced kids for help!

A day ago Glimmer had watched horrified (helplessly) as one of the kids from a few bunks down was dangled over the edge of some, some _terrifying_ canyon made out of toxic pollution by his hair! The instructor was literally holding him casually with one hand buried in his hair and the other at his hip! And he had screamed and begged to be put down, and the teacher, the teacher just- _dropped_ him. Just for a moment, before scooping him up roughly by his neck (his neck!). And that stupid idiotic teacher had just laughed, and laughed, and laughed. _‘next time, if your dangling over an edge, don’t whine about being put down!’_ and all the other stupid little sheep followers had chuckled along too, like it was some great joke!

Everyone here was evil.

Glimmer put her face into her pillow, nose crinkled at the awful smell. Thank the Old Ones it wasn’t sweat or something- but all fabrics in the Horde had this really bizarrely strong smell. Like a cross between seaweed, and bleach. The result was unpleasant and bitter, and wasn’t that just the perfect summary of this awful place.

She was eventually going to have to fall asleep. She was…so tired already. They made them do so _much_ \- running and lifting and fighting and jumping over stupid obstacles! She was only eight! They didn’t start training cadets in Bright Moon until they were _nineteen_ \- that was more than _ten years_ away! None of them were built to keep up like this, and it was all Glimmer could do to keep her eyes from shutting against the rough fabric of her pillow. She didn’t wanna sleep. She didn’t wanna _do_ tomorrow. She didn’t want to be- so, so afraid and angry and hurt all the time, she didn’t want to be kicked, or electrocuted, or _whatever_ else they do to punish small children when they felt like it! She wanted to go **_home_**. She wanted to breathe in light air that smelt like wind and grass and sky, not this ugly atmosphere of fog and oil and _death_. She wanted her bed with its fluffy mattress and pillows, and heavy warm blankets, her legs hanging over her room, instead of this pathetic excuse for a bed, with no mattress at all and flimsy thin blanket and a seaweed bleach pillow that was scratchier that the floor!

She wanted her _mom_. She wanted her long warm arms around her, pressing her in and squeezing her a little too hard, and making her safe, safe _, safe_. She wanted her annoying know it all voice, with its sing song lilts she _loved_ so so much, she wanted to press her head into her stomach and smell air and paperwork and _home._

Glimmers tears were falling rapidly now, insides pinched into a tight ball, hands wrapped desperately around her side, as if she was hugging herself. A sob etched its way out of her throat and floated to the top of the room, joining all the other sounds of agony.


	3. Chapter 3

Bow liked to be positive! A chipper attitude and good faith were qualities he just sort of had, which was awesome, because his dad’s always said it was, and that it was somehow rare! Which was weird, because the world was a pretty cool place, and most of the people he met were also very nice, so more people should probably be happy about that right?

Well anyway, he liked to keep things cheerful, even if things weren’t especially going his way. A lot of times it really helped the situation to not get angry or upset or negative. But uh. He had to admit that maybe, well.

He was having a hard time staying positive right now.

For one thing- for one thing a lot of…bad things, had happened. To BrightMoon, and the Rebellion, and him. He couldn’t- there wasn’t any flip side to, to dead bodies on the streets and bombs and guns and noise and panic- or, or anything like that. And try as he might the Horde was, well, proving very difficult to see the good sides of. Maybe it did have a good side, but, uhm, it must have been pretty small. Because so far things had sucked, and they weren’t getting better exactly.

“Hordak chop me in two, it’s like ya’ can’t even fucking lift your arms!” Hissed a very aggressive and high pitched Catra, hand coming up to smack her face in exasperation. Bow flinched; from the disappointment in her tone as well as the very, very adult swear. Kids weren’t supposed to say stuff like that! They weren’t allowed to swear at all actually, which he thought was reasonable since words could hurt, but uh, _especially_ not that one. Just hearing it made his insides feel all guiltily squirmy, like he was sneaking out on Sun Harvest day or something.

Also why did all Horde expressions have to be so…scary? Not to say that they weren’t creative, because, uh, they were creative…

Bow held his arms out it a half shrugging manner.

“What do you want me to do? I’m trying to do this softly while also hitting a moving target- I don’t actually want to hurt you.” This was why only big kids did stuff like sparing, he didn’t know how any of the rules worked! Was his sparring partner even older than him? She was a lot smaller than him. She was…actually a little worryingly small. He guessed that’s what a ration bar diet did to you, which seemed…weird. Why would a military dic-tator-ship want their solders to be underfed and weak? He never had a head for this kinda stuff.

Catra rolled her eyes with basically her whole body- (she was just so expressive!)- and scoffed.

“Are you _braindead_? Ya’ do wanna hurt me! That’s the whole _point_ of a fight!” Bow narrowed his eyes in confusion ready to interject that uh, he was pretty sure that was very much _not_ the point of a _training match_ before she spoke again.

“Sides’ you couldn’t even lay a finger on me if you tried. I’m not worried bout’ what Bow the bedwetter’s skills are like.” She mocked, laughing sharply. Bow frowned, vaguely feeling like he was being bullied. She was kinda rude huh.

“Catra…” Bow sighed, rubbing the back of his head reluctantly.

“If you really want to I’ll actually try my best, but if it gets too much, or, you don’t want to anymore or anything like that, you can just call time out and I’ll stop.” Consent was very important! His dad’s _and_ his brothers had told him that, so not only did he agree, but it was basically true! His family was made up of very cool, very smart people! They were right about a lot of stuff usually!

Catra blinked, looking suddenly and overwhelmingly unsure. She didn’t even fire a snarky comeback, head tilted to the side. Bow’s heart clenched in sympathy- had no one ever told her she could say _no_ to something like this? (had anyone ever stopped when she did)

Recovering, the Malicat gave him a somewhat shaky challenging smirk, long tail lashing behind her. Bow smiled back, trying to force back the sudden droopy sort of sadness that had come over him.

“Okay, oak, river, wind- moon!” He shouted, counting down so that Catra would know exactly when they were to start. Catra gave him another weird look, but immediately lept away as he charged at her. Very, very, far away. Wow she could jump. He looked at her, a little amazed, and she gave him what seemed to be a genuinely happy, though a bit cocky, grin. Bow returned the smile.

**Author's Note:**

> If you couldn't guess, Glow is Glimmer under a few image changing spells and a fake name. Also, I headcannon Horde soldiers as having slight country accents, mostly because it amuses me.


End file.
